Tigers preparing for state playoffs

Although it will not become official until Monday afternoon, head coach Eric Bishop of the Adairsville Tigers football team if pretty confident his team will be playing Friday night in the Class AAA state playoffs.

"If it tells you anything, we've had coaching staff meetings, we've swapped film, and we're getting ready. We feel that strongly that we're in. It's not like we're sitting back until Monday waiting on this. ... It will be a shock if we're not [in]," Bishop told The Daily Tribune News Saturday.

Adairsville will be receiving the final berth in the Class AAA state playoffs. The at-large berth is based on the GHSA's Power Ratings formula and becomes necessary because of a rule intended to get the best pool of teams possible into the playoffs. In Class AAA, Region 1-AAA only has four teams. Without the at-large rule, all four of those teams would automatically be in the playoffs each year. The rule states that if any fifth place team from another region has a better Power Rating than Region 1-AAA's fourth place team, then the highest ranked fifth place team takes the final spot from Region 1-AAA. As of the Sunday afternoon updates, the fourth place team in 1-AAA -- Worth County -- has a power rating of 6.90. Adairsville, the fifth place team in 6-AAA, has a power rating of 10.27. The other six fifth-place teams across all the other regions trail Adairsville in the power ratings. Those teams include: SE Bulloch (9.28), Cherokee Bluff (9.26), Redan (8.87), Jackson Co. (8.24), Central-Macon (8.00), and Tattnall County (7.13).

GHSA is waiting until an appeals process can be held Monday morning to announce the at-large bid.

Adairsville, though, is not waiting until then to find out if the team's season has been extended at least one more week. In fact, the Tigers, who were actually off the final week of the regular season, have already started their prep work for a potential first-round matchup with Region 3-AAA champion Jenkins.

"We feel confident enough that we are in that we have traded film and begun preparation on playing at Jenkins," said Bishop. "We don't know where that game will take place, but we do know it will be Friday at 7:30 — if we're confirmed by GHSA."

Savannah-Chatham County Schools share several stadiums. According to Bishop, the game will either take place at Memorial Stadium in Savannah or Pooler Stadium in Pooler, which is approximately 13 miles west of Savannah.

"I feel like we're in," Bishop surmised. "I've been in this business 27 years, so I know crazy things happen. It just makes you a little cautious."

Once confirmed, the plan is for BartowSportsZone.com to broadcast the game via the internet back to Bartow County. Use the green, 'Listen Live' button at the top of this page beginning at 6 p.m. for pregame coverage on both the Adairsville and Cartersville playoff games. A direct link for the Adairsville/Jenkins game will also be available for listeners at -- https://www.meridix.com/event/160335